How Video Testimonials Can Powerfully Boost Your Sales
Click the image above to see an example.
Video testimonials are one of the most powerful and under-utilized marketing techniques available to a business. If you aren’t using video testimonials, you’re losing out on the ability to upsell customers, acquire new business, and convert visitors who come to your website.
Why Video Testimonials Are Important for Your Business:
Risk Reduction:
A video testimonial for your product or service reduces the risk in the mind of the consumer. I believe that risk reduction is the purpose of all online reviews. Think about buying anything on Amazon. Would you be more likely to purchase a product with three positive reviews, or three hundred positive reviews? Obviously, the more reviewed one, because this makes the purchase less risky in the eyes of the customer. Other people have bought and used the product; therefore you feel more secure that you’re making the right purchase decision.
If you’re in the business of selling high-value products or services, video testimonials are extremely valuable as there is a more significant financial or reputational investment involved in these purchasing decisions.
Upsell Customers to More Expensive Products / Services:
Video testimonials are also a valuable sales aid. If your landing pages present a video of satisfied customers, you’re likely to enjoy more engagement from visitors than simple plain text outlining your offerings. In a study of 1,000 U.S. consumers (who had bought products online in the previous year), the top factor influencing purchases of a higher-priced option was better reviews.
Generating Testimonials: Existing Customers
E-mailing existing customers is a powerful method for generating high-quality video content. If you have a good working relationship with your customers, they will often be willing to provide words of praise or recommendation through a simple interview format. If you interact with your clients regularly, I would recommend using a videographer to professionally edit and capture your video as a strong marketing tool.
My advice is to ask the questions that your customers would want to know as someone new to what you offer. For example, certain questions to ask your customers could be:
- “Why did you initially use product X/ service X.”
- “If you had one thing to say about product X / service x, what would it be?”
Make the questions simple, relatable to your target market, and relevant to what you’re selling. Through some solid questions, you can record the answers from your interviewees and organize the responses into a winning video testimonial.
Video testimonials are a powerful way of minimizing risk for the consumer and upselling your product. If your clients are happy with your products or services, they will be highly likely to agree to a short video testimonial. A simple interview format where you ask questions that would be highly relevant to a new customer is best. Once this is captured, it’s possible to edit it into a polished, high-quality video that acts as a sales aid for any visitors to your website or viewers on social.
MjrVisuals can help through our expertise. We run the gambit of visual imagination, including video production, digital marketing, video editing, print design, advertising, graphic design, graphic animation, motion graphic and media design.
We believe everyone has a story; the question is, who is telling yours?
Why do you need online reviews?
Online reviews are you for them or against them?
I don’t know about you, but when I’m looking to purchase anything, I tend to always look at reviews first. It’s gotten so bad that I sometimes filter my search results with only products or services that have a five-star rating. And the funny thing is, I think I’m not the only person who does this.
Do you do it as well?
Online reviews have an uncanny ability to skyrocket a company’s sales, and at the same time, they have the ability to decline a company’s sales.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to monitor the reviews you have, get customers to leave positive ones, and promote the best ones on your website, your social media profiles, and on your business listings. Whether you’re just now starting to get reviews or you have reviews already, here are a few tips to get ahold of and leverage your reputation online.
Your website should at least have a testimonials page, and that’s if you sell a service; if you are selling products, each product should have a review section or at least a place where your customers can leave a review, and your potential customers can see one. Why, you ask? Leaving the option for past clients to leave a review shows trust, trust in your service, and a belief in your product. So much so that you have no worries in entrusting your online reputation to your past clients.
Everything is connected if you search for your name online the first five things will probably be your Google page, your business Facebook page, your Google local page, then your homepage, and then some random page that you do not know where it came from, but it has items from your site and just like the other four will show multiple reviews about you, your product and/or your service.
Reviews matter.
Now don’t think for a minute that one wrong post or tweet can’t hurt you; it may not be a review, but everybody sees everything, and everything plays to your online reputation, which reflects on your brand.
Monitoring your social media profiles to respond to customers is just as important as responding to bad reviews. Gone are the days where your online reputation was forgettable and didn’t affect your sales. Be sure to monitor and review your online presence to achieve the reputation you deserve.
Along with online marketing tips and education, MjrVisuals is a full-service video production company based in Washington, D.C.
The Documentary "440 Negroes"
Press Release
440 Negroes – one event seemingly the epicenter of inequality and injustice in America.
440 Negroes is a documentary film that tells the story of a series of events in US history that prompted the current social norm of injustice, disparity, and inequality. Directed by Malcholm Reese in association with MjrVisuals and Lincoln Penny Films.
The documentary film focuses around “the weeping time” and Savannah Ga with interviews of specialists that describe the forgotten historical facts while relating those facts to present-day America. Interviewees include Kristopher Monroe; Vice-Chair Savanah-Chatham County Historic Commission / Author “The Weeping Time” -the Atlantic, Shannon Browning-Mullis; Curator Telfair Museum, Otis Johnson; Mayor City of Savannah Ga., Dr. Amir Jamal Toure; Professor Southern History, Savannah University, Patrik Garland esq, James Jordan; Author and Historian.
440 Negroes is the detailed account of the people who were sold on March 2-3, 1859, their families cruelly separated forever. In some cases, babies ripped from the arms of their mothers, as told by the eyewitness account of New York Times journalist, Mortimer Thomson, who wrote under the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks. As I dove deeper into the story, I learned that the sad plight of these 440 people was much larger. Their story begins with the founding of the country, the grandfather of Pierce Butler, who insisted that a specific clause concerning fugitive slaves was inserted into the Constitution. Then after the Civil War, freedom spawned new hope for the four million in the South.
“By the law of war and the order of the President of the United States, the negro is free and he shall be treated as such.” To assist the free persons, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 15, a promise made by the United States government for agrarian reform to aid formerly enslaved black farmers. “40 Acres and a Mule” was a phrase echoed throughout the South asserting the right of newly freed African Americans to redistributed lands, particularly those plantations where they were enslaved. By the 1870s, blacks had abandoned hope of federal land redistribution and the phrase “40 acres and a mule” came to symbolize that broken promise. In Savannah, and all through the South, economic justice for African Americans was lost.
Great Qualities for Marketers to Have in 2020
Marketing is the engine of any business. Whether you are a small business owner or the Chief Marketing Officer of a big corporation, you need to have the right mix of traits to stay successful.
The foundation of responsibility is, no doubt, the most critical component of any success in business. In this article, I am going to talk about some touchpoints around this necessary quality in your life in order to help you achieve your business goals.
Get motivated
The renowned author and speaker Zig Ziglar said that motivation is,” just like taking a bath, doesn’t last.” One should continuously recharge their batteries of motivation to stay motivated.
The only way to keep your momentum is to stay motivated. This is like a muscle that needs to be exercised daily, if you want to stay on top of your game. Of course, there are days you wake up and feel like you would rather stay in bed and abscond your obligations. So many people give in to the temptation and end up wasting a lot of time.
One way to build motivation is to form daily rituals where you perform a certain set of actions, every day, which get you ‘in the zone.’ If you establish a routine that puts you in the path to maximum productivity early in the day, your body and mind will learn that it is time to get going.
For instance, if you are a runner, you may choose to wake up, put on your shoes, and start running every time you wake up from bed. In the office, the ritual could be visualization, meditation before going for a meeting, or making a sales presentation.
Our bodies and minds are like engines; they must be kept in optimum working conditions to function correctly.
The engine must first be fired before it can start working. Get yourself motivated first thing before you start doing what you planned.
Assume responsibility
If anything is to be, it is up to you.
There are no accidents. Responsibility is the hallmark of successful entrepreneurs and is a way of being, not just what you do. When you are truly responsible, you accept the fact that success or failure is in your hands no matter what. Blaming outside forces or people for your failures shows that you are irresponsible.
Great leaders claim responsibility even when things go wrong, not just when they are buzzing. Being responsible means not blaming anyone or anything for the things that go wrong — being responsible means taking an introspection approach and looking at what you could have done differently to produce better results.
You should be aware at all times the impact you are creating around you and the examples you are setting for others. You have the power to create the circumstances you want. No one prevents you from creating the business you desire.
Accept no excuses
If you are personally accountable to your business or quality of life, you should be honest with yourself; you should face reality and accept no excuses.
Acknowledge where you have made mistakes in the past and commit to improving things in the future.
You really need to be honest with yourself about where you are slaking and resolve to honor your commitments. Do not break promises. Every time you break a commitment or a promise to yourself, your self-worth is eroded and eventually, your inner self’s worth is destroyed.
As a serious entrepreneur, you should choose accountability as your minimum standard in everything you do. If you do so, you will find that your business will have more meaning and you will experience more success.
Emotional Branding and Building a Lasting Customer Base in 2020
Emotional branding is defined as the successful attachment of a specific emotion to a brand.
At one of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) conferences in Chicago, Jay Baer asked a room full of roughly 1,000 B2B marketers, “Are you more interesting than my wife?”
Can you think of the people you have had an emotional connection within your life?
How did they impact your life?
Now think about brands and see the common threads among them.
It is true for brands as it is for people: to breakthrough marketing, businesses need to be more interesting and relevant at the moment.
Brands need to connect with people in the way a close friend would—through emotion—to build, long-lasting, and quality relationships. There are enormous opportunities for companies to take advantage of emotional branding.
According to one research, smell is powerful when it comes to persuading someone to buy a product. Brick and mortar locations using certain scents in their stores have been found to have a 30% increase in sales.
A study by University of Wollongong and Murdoch University in 2012, emotional branding is becoming used globally. According to Dr Steve Bellman of Murdoch University’s Audience Labs, marketers are tapping into customer’s feelings to market their brands. Another study shows men who show love for their brand beer purchase 38% more beer than the average.
Therefore, emotional branding can lead to substantially more sales without companies having to rely on discounts and promotions. On the flip side, however, creating that emotional connection can be a difficult task.
How brands can connect emotionally
- By telling a story that inspires an emotional connection: according to Beth Comstock, General Electric Chief Marketing Officer, you can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything. Every brand has stories to tell.
- Allow your audience to be the real hero: imagine how emotionally connected your brand would be by showcasing how your product has changed lives. Simply give your audience a voice, a platform, and a face to be heard.
- By being authentic: don’t be afraid to embrace your inner geek. Remain who you are and don’t try to be like who you are not. At Bizify, we try to remain true to ourselves. We try to help startups find their feet and we intend to remain true to that mission.
- By embracing the opportunity to surprise and delight: surprising and delighting customers can be an effective marketing strategy. Use social media and mobile to spark moments of happiness in customers and you will be surprised at its effectiveness. Coca-Cola has really perfected this art.
Other Important Branding Tips
Creating an irresistible value proposition
A value proposition is a statement that explains what value you provide to your customers and how you do it uniquely. Establishing a substantive value proposition is critical if you want to stand above the crowd. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs lose out because they fail to articulate a unique value proposition.
Be clear on what your business stands for. What is your promise? How will you put out consistent and passionate messages that attract the right candidate? This will also help you to hire the right people and develop products and services that are aligned with your unique value proposition.
Be careful with launching too many brands
The big problem for many businesses is they think more brands will make them more successful, but they have neither the architecture nor the capacity to manage a multiplicity of brands well. Businesses can increase profits by deleting none-performing brands. Even though revenue may fall in the process, reducing the number of brands will be beneficial in the long run.
Multiband strategies are likely to suffer from diseconomies of scale because of the hidden costs. By letting go of weak, declining, and marginally profitable brands, you will be freeing resources to make your few remaining brands better and more attractive to customers. Thus, killing some brands in your portfolio may sometimes be the best way for your business to serve the customers.
Package your products
The packaging is an important element when it comes to marketing. How you package your products can attract or repel customers. Is your packaging visually attractive through shape, color, design, and does it communicate the right brand ideals? If not, it might be time to revamp the way you package your products.
Create a slogan
Let us consider Apple for example. As they became big, they adopted the tagline “Think Different.” This was a perfect fit for their marketing strategy because a large portion of their customers didn’t want to use PC’s like everybody else. Choose a slogan that is consistent with your brand and fits your market slogan.
Take care of your staff
You need to build your reputation to attract the right team and customers. So treat your team well because they are one of the most influential people in your business. Ex-employees are important for leads and new business. Also, reward them for not only making sales but for being great ambassadors for your business.
Increasing your online branding in 2020
This is Malcholm Reese the Creative Director for MjrVisuals, and in this podcast, I’m going to talk about Ideas that will help online branding.
You probably know this, but I am going to say it just in case you do not. A strong identity helps your customers remember you and makes you stand out in the marketplace.
You hear the experts, other business owners, marketing people, and your extended family talking about branding and how you need, and if you had it, your business would be doing that much better. By now, you and I know that branding is more than just shiny logos and a fancy name. Branding mainly involves helping customers to have a sense of belonging and attachment to your products, your service, your culture, and your values.
If you want to create an unforgettable brand online, it needs to be consistent, recognizable, and should appear across all aspects of your online and sometimes real-world presence.
Here let me give you ideas that will help your branding endeavors.
Are you prepared to spend some money?
When it comes to online branding, you cannot avoid spending some money. If you want to make more money, you have to spend more money. It means you will have to spend in things like social media, Ad Words, and content creation. A mentor told me once that “the one thing the separates hobbyists from business owners is the willingness to spend money on advertising.” He continued, “everyone out there can do marketing for free; it’s not the new frontier, so if you think your the first one to try it and it’s free, your probably wrong.”
Identify and convey your purpose.
In order to create a powerful online brand, you need to create a defining purpose that will act as your compass. Sometimes it is good to go back to the basics. Why are you in this business in the first place? Does your mission and purpose translate into your online presence?
Keep it real.
Small businesses suffer into oblivion because of their insistence on looking ‘big’ and corporate-like. The truth of the matter is that you don’t have to.
If you want your brand to stand out online, put your personality behind it. People are more receptive to people. For instance, try to include your picture in your company profile. You could also infuse some humor into the content. Authenticity should be your goal regardless of whether you are new in the market.
Be passionate, and you will attract passionate clients.
Revisit your target audience.
Do you know who your target audience is? Yeah, I know 18 – 55, male and female, making X amount a year, but do you really know who your brand is talking to? You need to know who your target audience is and where they are and where you can find them.
Conduct yourself professionally.
Whatever you do, remember that this is business. So you should pay attention to how you conduct yourself. Avoid being remembered for the wrong reasons by ensuring you post or publish credible and factual content. Go for quality over quantity.
You have probably heard the saying, “it is not what you say, but how you say it, “that is essential when it comes to marketing.
Final thought; your personality reflects on your business at the beginning, as your business grows that character will become an integration of voices that will represent your brand.
Mjrvisuals can help you increase your reach. We run the gambit of visual imagination. Be part of our portfolio of clients, and let us tell your story to the world. Visit our website: mjrvisuals.com/
Inbound Marketing Ideas You Should Try
Are you just getting started with inbound marketing? Have you been doing inbound marketing for sometimes now? How long do you think it should take before seeing results? Many marketers wonder how much it could cost to regularly generate content, and improve social media outreach. The good news is that there are countless ways you can increase your inbound marketing activities without having to break the bank. In other words, the basics are not out of your reach. From writing your own content to utilizing thousands of available website tools to help you reach your potential customers, here are no-cost inbound marketing ideas you can try.
Create high-quality free content
Publishing high-quality content remains the key to successful inbound marketing. If you want to attract customers to your website, you must publish high quality, valuable content. Content can be in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, white papers or tweets, among others.
At the very least, dedicate a few minutes of your time to create well-written content that is relevant and useful to your audience. of course if you are unable to produce the content yourself, you can contract a marketing agency or freelance content producers to help you publish the right content that will not only be right for the search engines but also one that your users will love.
Create a loyalty program
You can develop a simple strategic partnership with your prospects through loyalty programs. A good example is B2B referral software known as Advocate Hub. This software allows users to build a loyalty program so that the firm can trigger customer enthusiasm and boost referrals of qualified leads.
Loyalty programs are done by incentivizing partners, customers, and employees so that they become brand ambassadors of your target audience. Incentives can range from discounts to reward for content created, such as guest posts and online reviews and testimonials.
Use social media networks
Social media networks have become the cornerstone of inbound marketing, thanks to their global outreach. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Instagram, can be used to promote and share content, products as well as special offers. Social media also allows you to not only interact with your customers but also create brand loyalty.
Remember to keep track of your social media interactions both on your website and on your social media profiles/fan page.
Lead nurturing
Lead nurturing is the process of ensuring that your prospects are ready to buy before directing them to your sales team. Sometimes your sales department can waste valuable time and resources on leads that are not qualified. Here are some tips on how to ensure successful lead nurturing:
- Ensure the timing is right: do not rush your prospects such that you start bombarding them with your sales emails soon after they hit the subscribe button or like your page. It is important to take your time to bring them closer to wanting to open their wallets
- Constantly and consistently refine your messaging: know the kind of information your prospect wants to hear based on the data you have collected. By ensuring that you keep giving them the right and relevant information, you will be building rapport and trust with your customers.
- What do you want to give them? State what you want to provide them and what they stand to gain from your offer.
Do you need help? Video production on-demand or VPD can be one of the brightest ideas of 2020. VPD gives you the ability to produce broadcast quality visual imagery for your business. Click here to learn more. Video production on demand by Mjrvisuals